Residents of Siberia will be able to see comet Catalina during the New Year holidays, which after Christmas will reach peak brightness. According to Irkutsk astronomer Sergei Yazev, it can now be seen only through a telescope, but observing conditions improve each day. It is especially interesting that the celestial body came from the distant Oort cloud, and its brightness is still hard to predict exactly.
Residents of Siberia will receive a cosmic gift during the New Year holidays. As Irkutsk astronomer Sergei Yazev said, residents of Siberia will be able to admire the New Year’s comet “Catalina.” It will reach its maximum brightness after Christmas.- The comet was discovered in October 2013, - says Sergei Yazev, director of the ISU astronomical observatory. – It came into the lenses of the Catalina network of automated robot telescopes. At that time, it was said that in two years the celestial body would become so bright that it could be seen with the naked eye.
However, the scientists jumped to conclusions. The fact is that “Catalina” is flying to us from the most distant and least studied part of the Solar System - the Oort cloud. Not much is known about the objects in this cloud. To this day, the size of the comet’s nucleus and the ratio of ice to dust in it remain unknown. And it is precisely these characteristics that determine the comet’s brightness.
- “Catalina” is moving at high speed, transitioning from the morning sky to the night sky, so visibility conditions improve every day, - Sergei Yazev notes. – It will be possible to admire the comet closer to the New Year holidays. Right now it appears only in the morning, and it can be seen only through a telescope. And on January 14, “Catalina” will be near the constellation Ursa Major.